


Ginger Hale

by auworksforme



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Implied Relationships, Leprechauns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 21:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auworksforme/pseuds/auworksforme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some trickery turns into a pat-Derek-fest.</p>
<p>Inspired by this picture: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mczqxfoFB01qh062lo1_500.jpg</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ginger Hale

There would be a day in Derek’s life in which he wouldn’t experience anything bad or make anyone angry.

Today wasn’t that day.

“I just want to talk!” He tried to follow the movements around him. The little creatures were fast and almost without smell. “I heard your kind was always up to date about everything that goes on here. And I thought-” _that compliments would help._  He was hit by something. A small red spot on his arm stung. There was laughter.

“Stop moving around!”

More laughter.

_Deaton’s nonsense making me waste my time again_.  Derek shook his head. “I guess I was wrong. You’re just brats.”

Again the stinging feeling, this time on his neck, but he shook it off.  Leprechauns were a joke.

~

When Derek woke the next morning, he was sure there was something wrong with his eyes. Or the mirror. Or both.

 He rubbed the mirror’s surface, tilted his head this way and that.

His facial hair was ginger.

The hair on his head was ginger.

He looked down.

Yep.  All his hair was ginger.

Derek cursed, loudly enough for Cora to open the bath room door.

“What the ..” She cursed and erupted in laughter.  “What did you _do_?”

“Of course, this is my fault.  It’s always my fault.” He turned to her. “I don’t know! I woke up like this. Get out of the bath room!”

Surprisingly, Cora listened to him. She closed the door behind her and asked, “So last night didn’t go as planned then, huh?”

“I thought you were out last night.” Derek looked at his ginger self skeptically. _Was it horribly ugly?_

“Traced your scent until I got into unknown territory. Can I tell the others that you turned into a soulless person?”

“What?”

“Gingers? No soul?” She chuckled. “Maybe putting _a lot_ of gel in it will make it darker.  I’m making breakfast, see you there!”

_I’m not a soulless person._ He touched his hair and suddenly felt happier. _Was this really so bad?_

~

“She didn’t lie.” Stiles was the first of his visitors to circle Derek. For a human, he was fast. “Why did you do this?”

“I didn’t do it.” He didn’t want people here, why was _anyone_ here right now?

“Can I touch it?”

Derek met Scott’s eyes. _Keep your friend in check? For once?_ “No.”

Stiles patted it and started laughing. “It’s not that bad, to be honest? You shine bright, man. Hey, have you tried changing yet? Maybe your fur is red as well. Maybe you change into something else?”

_Shit_. He gave the teen a push. “It’s not funny. And no, I didn’t change. ~~”~~ He hadn’t actually considered that his change might be different.

Scott rose. “It’s not Stiles’ fault. Is this the only thing that changed? Do you think it’s the leprechauns you visited?”

“Are you going to dye it any time soon?” Isaac said, frowning. “Because I don’t like it.”

“It’s really soft though.” Stiles beamed. “Like sunbeams and grass.”

Everyone turned to Stiles.

“What?” Derek asked, confused. _It had felt like family nights and cotton candy, not grass._

“It makes me happy.” The penny dropped. Stiles’ face crunched up. “Wait.”

Isaac choked on laughter. “Derek’s hair made Stiles high.”

“No, it didn’t.” _Why me_.  He patted his hair. “There’s nothing wrong with my hair.” He smiled happily, and then frowned. “Oh.” _Shit._ “Don’t touch my hair.”

His pack never listened. Before Derek could say another word, Isaac, Scott and Stiles were on him. Derek ran, laughing.

~

“I still prefer my own hair. And I don’t want to be a little,” Derek chuckled, “werewolf Buddha everyone wants to rub. It’s a good thing Cora is on that school trip.”

“Is it like this with your hair _everywhere_?” Stiles sat up. “I mean, down your be-…legs?”

Scott gave his friend a hard enough push to make him splay himself on the floor again. “Get a grip.”

_Don’t focus on Stiles being interested in the space between my belly and legs._ “I should try to find the leprechauns again.  This is getting old.”

Isaac dragged his hands through Derek’s hair. “No, it isn’t. It feels different every time you touch it.”

“Isaac, stop it.” He made the mistake of scratching the soft fluff on his stomach. “You’re right.  Now it feels like my first pack meeting after my turn and the smell of ‘s mores.”  He huffed.  “Okay, so I’ll go find them tomorrow.”

“Your turn?” Scott got closer and started massaging Derek’s temples. “You mean, like into a complete wolf? What was it like?”

“It was awesome. Almost better than se-...” He kept his eyes _not_ on Stiles. “Being really close with someone. Of course it hurts like hell at first and I made the mistake of being so happy with my tail that I made myself nauseous b-”

“What, how?”

Derek gave Isaac a shove. “I kept chasing it. Dropped on my side and vomited.” Somehow the memory was really funny. “My mom dragged me to the nearest pool and dunked me into it. Can you imagine a soaking wet wolf?”

“I can.” Scott giggled.

“Did you turn back while you were soaked?”  Stiles was the only one sitting up right by now. “Like...”

“Stiles want to know if you were naked!” Isaac squealed.

“Why are you asking?” Derek needed to rein this in. “Everyone stop touching me. My hair.” He got up. “You all need to sober up.  And I’m going to find those leprechauns.”

~

“The color suits you.”

Derek has been less than five minutes in the leprechauns’ clearing before he heard the first one. It looked like a boy, even smaller than the others of his species.

“I prefer my own.” Derek grumbled.

“Everyone else must have loved it.” Another one squeaked.

“Didn’t it make you happy?” A third one tittered. “Are you not happier? Do you understand that the best things aren’t asked for?”

“I came here to ask for information on plants and you gave me hair that made people high. Not the best thing, in my opinion.” He looked around. “Do you have a leader I can talk to? Someone who can fix this?”

“Don’t you like to dish out happiness?” This from a female leprechaun, her red hair long enough to trail behind her. “Would you rather continue with this coldness, this anger and frustration you carry around?”

“That’s my decision. I don’t want _anything_ pushed upon me.” Derek knelt down in front of her. “If you don’t want to answer my questions; if you never want me to visit again, fine. I’ll stay away. But please take this away from me. I don’t need more things in my life that are out of my control.”

She nodded. “It was child’s play; they meant no harm. Sometimes it’s hard for us to remember that not every creation fears the cold inside as much as we do. Give me your hand, please.”

“I’m not c-” Derek sighed and extended his hand. “Here you go.”

Her touch was warm, comforting, and the smell of the snicker-doodles he and Laura always tried to steal from grandma’s plate. For a second he didn’t want to let go, maybe permanent happiness was better than reality.

She let go of his hand. “There you go. And the plant that you seek has been extinct for fifteen years. I’m sorry we can’t help you.”

“Thank you.” He rose. “Thank you.” _Having the possibility of decision making is really the only option._

~

Isaac rolled his eyes and walked away.

“This goes better with your moods.” Stiles shrugged. “I mean not that your moods are always dark but you’re an impressive werewolf and that looks better with dark hair.”

Scott patted his Stiles’ shoulder. “We have pictures. You’ll be fine.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Destroy the pictures.”

His beta grinned. “Nope. Think of it as a life lesson.”

“Life lesson?”

“Laugh more often.” Stiles added. “Because it suits you.”


End file.
